NFL Rumors: LA Rams wisely declined this trade offer on draft day

Are the days of the LA Rams wheelin' and dealin' over? Perhaps not permanently, but there is reason enough to believe that it has temporarily come to a halt. After all, the Rams are not exactly in it to win it right now. Rather, the Rams are trying to take it on the chin now to clean up their paying players on credit, a debt that the team has been carrying since their 2018 appearance in Super Bowl LIII.

It was the Rams' interest in rapidly retooling the roster in 2020 away from RB Todd Gurley, WR Brandin Cooks, and eventually, QB Jared Goff that sent the Rams front office into the perennial kick-the-can exercise that the team decided to end in 2023. In doing so, the Rams not only dealt with past debts, but parted ways with a number of veterans who still play competitive football, but who the Rams can no long assure will compete in the post-season for this team.

In any other season, an opportunity to acquire a versatile running back like the Detroit Lions D'Andre Swift would be met with an enthusiastic reception. But as we are now learning, the Detroit Lions first contacted the LA Rams about trading away Swift:

SOURCE: #Lions called the #Rams during the draft about trading for RB D'Andre Swift. The Rams declined and Detroit ended up moving him to the #Eagles. pic.twitter.com/3GD6PmHwrv
— JAKE ELLENBOGEN (@JKBOGEN) May 3, 2023

Because the Rams are trying to cleanse their financial books of overspending in the past, they declined teh offer. That led to the Lions trading Swift to the Philadelphia Eagles for a 2025 fourth-round pick and the right to swap seventh-round picks.

Let's not kid ourselves. The versatility of running back D'Andre Swift, both as a ball carrier and as a receiver, fits the Rams' offense very nicely. And the fact that Swift has never scored less than seven touchdowns in any of his first NFL seasons would be a huge step to helping to get the Rams offense back on track once more.

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The problem is that Swift is on an expiring contract, and the Rams have run the gamut of getting players on the final year of their deals. The most recent example is that of the LA Rams trading a fourth-round and sixth-round pick to the New England Patriots for the final year of RB Sony Michel, only to let Michel walk away at the end of the season without a contract extension.

NFL Rumors are that the LA Rams wisely declined this trade offer for Lions RB D'Andre Swift on draft day. And interestingly enough, I'm good with it.

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